Forgotten Love 2: Discovered Again
by Lexgo
Summary: It's been years since the split, yet Matt and Kendra both realize that their feelings are still there, and growing. How can they finally be together when everything seems to be getting in their way?
1. A New Start

**ALRIGHT! Second half of the story. Well…this half is going to be about twice as long as the first one. Whatever. I really hope you guys enjoy this one as much, or hopefully more, than the first one! Is it just me, or did the end of the first one start sounding like ****Kare Kano****? Did sort of to me. Anyway, enough of me talking, more of you reading.**

Kendra Kaiser, or known now as Kendra Fraser, an attractive and intelligent girl living an uncommon life. Being the "daughter" of the famous duel equipment designer, Sean Fraser, everything was hectic. Aside from her hidden glamorous life, things were difficult under the surface. Fraser was not her actual father, but in fact her uncle. Her true mother and father met at their older siblings' wedding. Both became infatuated with the other and shortly after, became pregnant. Kendra's mother left her and her father right after she was born, never to be heard from again.

Kendra's father, Mitchell, was not alone however. He had the help of his older brother and wife to help out with the new baby, who automatically fell in love with her. And when her father died of a severe illness when she was still very little, her aunt and uncle didn't hesitate to take her in as their own.

Very few people know the truth to her past, even her best friends. They only know the censored version of the truth where as one knows more than he bargained for.

The one that knows the whole past, Matt, regrets ever trying to learn more about her, but is glad that she confided in him. He and Kendra have many things in common such as kindness, intelligence, good looks. They were quick friends in the beginning and even faster in becoming something more. But when their relationship ended, it turned heads. All because Matt became a little too curious about Kendra's life. Just one thing ended it all.

Four years had passed since their first meeting and over two since the break-up. Graduation brought new hopes for their future, all of theirs. Alisa, Tyler, and Brandon had all terribly hoped that Kendra and Matt could possibly have gotten back together before graduation, before they had all gone their separate paths. Both resisted any form of help. Kendra, being the stubborn person she is, had made up her mind and did not intend on changing it. And Matt respected how she felt, no matter how much he wanted to get back together with her, no matter how much he loved her.

* * *

"Come on, Alisa. At this rate, we won't get there till next year," Matt jokingly nagged her as she got everything ready for their trip.

Over the years, Matt's good looks became more enhanced. His facial features had become more sharp, chiseled. He must have grown another six inches since freshman year and his short hair had grown down past his ears, slightly shrouding his eyes. Everyone who knew him before had always known him to cut his hair short.

For the five friends, this day was a one of a kind. August 13, Kendra's eighteenth birthday. Alisa, Matt, Brandon, and Tyler had been planning on surprising this day since before graduation and some had more in store than originally planned.

"Oh haha, aren't you funny? Keep your pants on, I'm almost done," Alisa snorted, putting a brightly colored box into her bag.

For the strangest reason, Alisa's long and beautiful blond hair that once reached down to her lower back now was chin length and slightly highlighted with light brown. Matt figured he would figure out later and didn't ask.

"Okay, one question, why would I take my pants off for you? I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen any time soon." A widely smiling Matt chuckled at Alisa's expression and began twirling his key ring around his finger, sighing slightly. "I really hope your mom didn't hear that."

"It's okay, she didn't." A small, jangly blond boy appeared next to Matt out of nowhere.

"Hey Eric. Haven't seen you in years. How long has it been?" Matt and Eric did some foreign hand shake to Alisa, making her want to barf.

"Long time, couple years. How've you been dude?"

"Eric, I don't care how chummy you guys are, get out of my room!"

"Alisa, technically, I'm not in your room," Eric commented, grinning maliciously at his older sister and stuck one foot in and out of the doorway. "Now I am. Now I'm not. Now I am, and now I'm not. In out in out in out in out in out."

"Get out you little--!"

"Alisa, Eric, be nice to each other you two," Mrs. Marshall called through the house, knowing they would hear her.

"Yes Mom," the siblings chorused, making silly faces at each other afterwords.

"Okay, I'm done," Alisa stated and walked up to Matt's side, flicking Eric on the forehead.

"Did you just flick me?!"

"Just a reminder. Stay out of my room!"

* * *

After getting Alisa from her place, they left to get Brandon, then Tyler. Both seemed eager to get Kendra's place. Even before the two got in the car, Alisa was interrogating Matt on why he was so close to her brother. Matt was having some trouble getting the car started, but after several turns of the key, the car finally roared to life. He really tried avoiding upsetting her.

"Stupid car..." Matt muttered.

"I never thought that a person like you would be so friendly with a creature like him."

"What? Your brother really isn't such a bad guy. You guys are just always fighting."

"Well, he started it."

"Not from where I was standing."

"Alright, changing subject," Brandon cut-in, not enjoying the current subject. "So it's really Ken's birthday?"

"Yeah," Alisa snorted, wondering why he would ask that question after being friends with her for so long.

"Cool, so, how old is she?"

"What do you think?" Tyler snapped in his face, both in the back seat. All eyes in the car gave in a worried glance.

"Oh yeah, eighteen, huh?"

"Yeah, she's a month older than you."

"Sorry, forgot."

"Did you forget your name on the way, too?"

"Stop fighting you two!" Matt yelled at the two, silencing them immediately. "I will not allow fighting in my junk heap of a car."

"Oh, you would know all about fighting, wouldn't you, Matt?" Alisa challenged, still sour about him and her annoyance of a brother being pals.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"From what I've heard, not that I've heard much mind you." Alisa glared at him as if telling Matt to tell her every little aspect of his life. "You, Chad, and his little goonies got into a pretty good fist fight."

"That was a long time ago."

"What was it about?"

"I'd rather not talk about it!" Matt ended the argument suddenly, realizing his hypocrisy.

"I thought there was no fighting?" Tyler shied, leaning forward and back into his seat.

"Lis, I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just a touchy subject."

"Nah, I provoked you."

"Okay, if you guys are done apologizing to each other, it would be nice if Matt payed attention to the road before he kills us all," Tyler added nonchalantly, eying the road with caution.

"Oh yes, that would be nice." Matt redirected his focus back on the freeway infront of him and remained silent.

"I've been wondering..." Brandon started, trailing off slightly from distraction. He spotted a road sign stating their next exit wasn't for several more miles. "What time is it?"

"Uh..." Tyler responded, lifting up his sleeve to read his watch. "7:30."

"This seems late, doesn't it? I always thought Ken got up early in the morning. I thought you two wanted to catch her before she woke up."

"She always sleeps in on Saturdays," Alisa answered in a "matter-of-fact" way. "Weekdays and Sundays are early. Saturdays are late. Usually doesn't get up till 8:30 or so."

The inside of the car was silent for a long few minutes after that, no one really feeling the need to say any more. Kendra was really the one that brought them all together in conversation, it was also her that created the group in a way. The four had all known each other before high school, but it wasn't till she came into their lives that they really became friends.

"Matt, just shooting this out here, and I know that you don't really want to talk about it, but it's important. Well, not really. When you were in that fight, did you really kick a guy...you know...there?" Alisa spat out, fully aware that he wouldn't like the question.

"Actually no."

"Okay, I really didn't think you wou--"

"Kendra did."

A short little chuckle sounded from the back seat, then ignited an explosion of laughter from all passengers. Years ago, if that episode with Chad had never happened, Matt, too, would have laughed along with them. But he knew all too well what she was capable of. Despite her sweet, pretty, and innocent looking outside, the Kendra most people knew, she was the strongest person Matt had ever met. Both mentally and physically. Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, so to speak.

"You're g-going to ha-a-a-ave to tell us aaaaallllllll about it, Ma-att," Tyler snorted in between "so funny it hurts" laughs and patting him hard on the shoulder.

After minutes of insufferable chuckling, Matt managed to tune it out and got off the exit without distraction.

"How much longer will this take?" Brandon burst, getting more and more impatient by the mile.

"We're almost there," Matt replied shortly, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.

"Ken's parents are expecting us there at certain time," added Alisa as she turned around in her seat and glared at Brandon. He sank into his seat as if pretending to be invisible. "Or at least Mr. Fraser is. He's an incredibly strict man, but when it comes to his daughter, there's no hesitation."

"He sent us the directions the other day. Got it all up here." Matt took a finger and tapped his head. "We're almost there, another minute or so."

"I'm not worried about how long the ride is going to take," Tyler started. "I just wanna know what happened with Chad."

Alisa turned to face Tyler and smacked him hard on the leg then turned to Matt. His jaw locked in place and his lips pursed together.

"If Ken feels comfortable with it, then we'll tell you."

"Okay," Alisa called energetically, trying to change the subject. "Here's the street. Brandon, try not to faint again."

"That was one time!" protested Brandon.

"That was the only time you two ever met," Tyler snorted sarcastically and stared out the window in awe.

"Here we are..." Matt trailed off at the thought as he looked outside and parked in front of the addressed house. Matt glanced outside with a blank look, making sure the address was correct. It definitely was right.

"That's slightly intimidating," Brandon gasped, he too was staring at the huge, three story house in front of the car.

"You don't even know what that means, dude," retorted Tyler, but not taking his eyes off the mansion.

"Sure I do."

"What is it then?"

"...Scary...?"

"That's enough you two." Matt silenced the car and unbuckled his seat belt, his eyes were also glued. "We didn't come here just to look at it."

Once Matt got out of the car, the others followed suit. The gang quickly stalked up the walk way to the door and suddenly froze.

"Tyler, you better get next to Brandon. We don't want him fainting again." Matt's tone wasn't at all sarcastic.

"One time," Brandon said in protest.

"Well, here goes nothing." Matt took in a deep breath and hesitantly knocked on the door a few times and they all waiting for someone to answer.

**Well, that's it for this chapter. First chappie of the new story. Hope you all enjoy the newness.**


	2. An Unexpected Surprise

**Okie dokie. Another new chapter. Again, the original story was based off a dream I had about Yu-Gi-Oh GX and I still don't know why. Jeez, that was almost 3 years ago already. Then it started sounding like Kare Kano at the end for some reason. Eh, whatever. I'm sure it fits into some manga/anime in some other ways. Read and Review please.**

"Good morning. You're right on time." Mr. Fraser answered the door, striking to Matt as a little weird.

_What, no servants? This guy is a millionaire_. _Billionaire even. Can't see a guy with _that_ much money answering his own door._

The tall man, who was now a little shorter than Matt, courteously invited the group into the house and closed the door softly behind him, careful not to make too much noise.

"My wife has been dying to meet you all." Fraser leaded the group through a long hallway covered with pictures, most of which were of Kendra growing up. Tons of toothy, gaped, and braced grins showed through the dimmed lights of the hallway.

"Seany, are Kendra's friends here yet?" asked a bubbly female voice with the slight hint of an Irish accent. The voice was followed by a slender woman about the same height as Kendra, but with blazing curly red hair.

"Yes, Annie."

Once the woman saw the group, she squealed in delight and rushed over to them to hug each of them. "Top of the morning to you all. I'm Kendra's mom. I'm so glad you wanted to come for her. I've been wanting to meet you all for quite a while."

Mrs. Fraser cheerfully herded them all to another room and situated the four on a couch. The room was dimly light from a single lamp on the opposite side of the room near the recliner where Mr. Fraser calmly sat down and started reading the newspaper and another by the couch. The room, otherwise, would have been completely dark with the blinds down. Mrs. Fraser, on the other hand, exuberantly sat down in an armchair next to the couch and faced the group. The smile on her face defied all laws of gravity, just looking at the four made her happier.

"You really don't know how much this means to our daughter." The carrot-top woman's face moved in a way as if thanking them extensively and turned to her husband who seemed to not be paying attention to the conversation. "To us as well."

Though Fraser didn't show it, he was thankful to them. For his daughter's sake, he was glad her friends had come on such an important day. In he own way, he was thankful.

"It's really nothing ma'am," Matt started, speaking for all of them. "She's our best friend."

"I don't think you understand just how important this is for her." Mrs. Fraser's face suddenly turned serious at the thought. "She's never had any real friends before. Kendra's always been such a lonely girl. After everyone at her elementary school found out her...relationship to us...we had to relocate and she had to change her secret alias. She couldn't trust anyone after that. You four answered my prayers. You didn't know her before then, but you could just see how changed she was when she came back home during the holidays."

Her expression changed back to its original happy, wildly smiling self. "She loves you all very much and she'll be thrilled that you all came to be with her on her special day. Isn't that right Sean?"

"She'll be ecstatic," Fraser answered in an expressionless tone, not looking up from his newspaper.

"And we love her," Alisa noted, quickly glancing over to Matt in a split second. "Mrs. Fraser, we never introduced ourselves to you."

"Oh, that's quite alright, I already feel like I've known you for ages. Kendra talks about you four all the time."

Mrs. Fraser shifted her attention to Brandon on the far side of the couch.

"Mr. Brandon Wayne. Kendra tells me that you were one of the first to introduced yourself to her. I really hope you don't feel alright. If you feel at all faint, please tell us."

Mr. Fraser had obviously told her of their first encounter, Brandon didn't seem at all embarrassed about it though.

"That's alright ma'am, I'm feeling great."

It was getting increasingly hard for the group not to smile back at this strange woman.

"You must be Mr. Tyler Swallow. She told me that you're a very sarcastic person."

"Maybe a little," commented Tyler, trying to hide his smile by pushing up his glasses inconspicuously.

"You're Miss Alisa Marshell. Kendra is going to be so surprised that you cut your hair so short."

"It's a long story." Alisa tugged at the ends of her hair and twirled what little she could in her fingers.

"And, last but not least, Mr. Matthew Folks. Or as most people call you, Matt, right?"

"Yes ma'am," Matt replied in agreement and shifted in his spot. Mrs. Fraser knew quite a bit about them as it was. It all made him wonder if she knew anything about his relationship with Kendra. Part of him really hoped not.

"I'm sorry about what happened between you and Kendra," she said in a whisper that hardly carried to the opposite side of the couch. Brandon, who was on the farthest side from Matt, would have needed an ear horn to hear, let alone Fraser who was situated on the complete opposite of the room. Did he not know about their fling? "But it's great that you two are as close as you are."

"Yeah, these things happen. It doesn't matter anymore." Matt's face glowed pink at the thought, but was glad Mrs. Fraser was alright with it, also that Mr. Fraser didn't know. One could only imagine that man's reaction to such news.

"Things change, young man."

_Wait, what did she mean by that? Did she mean, that we were together, but things changed and we broke up? Or we're just friends now and that _will_ change..._

"Mom? Dad? Is there someone here? I heard someone at the door." Kendra's terribly groggy voice called down the top of the stairs. The four turned their heads to get a glimpse of the girl at the top of the stairs. As she came into like, Matt noticed she was wearing her pink tank top, faded striped shorts pajamas and had her hair up in the same ponytail. In fact, it was the same exact get-up she was fashioning way back when.

_Doesn't she have any other pajamas? Not that i really mind...why must I think this way about her?_

Before Kendra could possibly see, Mrs. Fraser turned off the light by the group, enveloping them in darkness.

"You must have been dreaming, darling," answered Mrs. Fraser, now next to her husband on the other side of the room.

"How about you go back to sleep, sweetie?" Mr. Fraser folded his newspaper and placed it onto his lap. Once she came into view, he grinned lovingly at his daughter.

_The man smiles? I never would have thought._

"Nah, that's alright, dad," Kendra said who had just made her way down the stairs and was now in the dark room, her arm extended and touched the back of the couch. "I'll just stay here and try to...wake up." She still sounded like she was half asleep. Kendra sleepily made her way to the other side of the couch and laid herself down over their legs, not really noticing anything weird except that it was slightly uncomfortable. "Is it me or is the couch a little lumpy today?"

"I think it's just you, sweetie."

Kendra tried to reposition herself to get more comfortable, but being way too tired to really care anymore, she settled and yawned widely, stretching her arms over her head. The result, she accidentally punched Matt in the nose.

"I'm pretty sure that's not the couch..."

She felt around the strange abnormality that was Matt's nose and grabbed hold of his face.

"Either I'm going crazy, or the couch grew a face..."

"Well, it's not the couch." Mrs. Fraser walked over to the darkened couch and turned on the near light, revealing the four on the couch, Kendra sprawled across them, and her left hand grasping Matt by the face. Once she saw the sight, Kendra gave a small shriek of terror and fell of the four and onto the floor.

"Surprise," Brandon said excitedly, complete with ear-to-ear grin and jazz hands.

"Happy birthday," the other three shied in embarrassment and meekly smiled at the stunned girl on the floor.

"You guys came here for my birthday?" Kendra's face lit up at the thought as she looked at each individual face on the couch. She had practically forgotten all about them surprising her like they did. Surprises just weren't her thing.

"Of course," Matt replied, a bit taken aback by her sudden happiness.

"Why else would we come here on your birthday?" Tyler added as he elbowed Brandon to calm down.

"Plus, eighteen is a pretty special year," said Alisa who's smile matched Kendra's.

"You're our best friend and we want to be here for you," Brandon finished, still exuberant to Tyler's demise.

"You all must be starving. I'll make you all something to eat." Mrs. Fraser gleefully glided across the room, shortly followed by her husband, leaving the teens in the room alone. The four on the couch stood up, uncertain of what to do next, and looked down at the birthday girl n the floor who was flaunting her usual dazzling smile.

"Do you plan on sitting here all day?" Matt extended one hand out to her and Kendra, in a slight moment of embarrassment, reached out to grab it. Her face turning a brighter pink with each passing second.

"Your parents are total opposites," Alisa commented as she observed the two of them. "Your mom is such a happy lady, and then you're dad seems...slightly foreboding."

"That's how they seem," Kendra emphasized, still latched onto Matt's hand. He didn't really seem to notice either. "My mom can be testy at times, and my dad has shown his good side."

Hearing this, all four of the others thought of sophomore year when Brandon had dimwittedly fainted just at the sight of Fraser and how he had actually been concerned for the strange boy. Matt, however, thought of another thing along with this. Kendra must have been a constant reminder of their tragic past, how her parents had her so young, how her mother left right after giving birth, how Ken's father and Fraser's brother died when she was so little. Matt felt he had more respect for this man than he did for his own father.

"They really like all of you very much, you know. It's like they know you, I swear, it's the funniest thing. My mom loves to hear about you guys. Sometimes she'll ask what happened to one of you and my dad will answer her. They do that all the time."

Kendra flashed an intoxicating beautiful smile making her nose wrinkle and squeeze Matt's hand with vigor. She only realized that she was still holding his hand when Matt cringed slightly from the pain, then automatically released it.

"Oh my gosh, Matt, I'm so sorry," Kendra cooed, gently taking a hold of his hurt hand.

"Ken, it's alright. You just don't know your own strength is all," comforted Matt as he, too, gleamed his famous smile at her making her feel slightly weak at the knees. Even after all these years, that smile of his still had that effect on her.

"I guess so."

Feeling embarrassed, Kendra chuckled a little at stared down at their feet, both their faces turning a pinkish color in the process. Tyler and Brandon, however, were feeling totally confused after seeing the episode, wondering what the heck just happened.

Although, Alisa understood the gist of it and decided to cut in.

"Ah, you want to show us around, Ken?"

"Oh." Kendra shot her head up to face Alisa and started giggling all over again. "Yeah. Time for the grand tour."

**Okay, this took FOREVER for me to write lol. Sorry about that for those of you how have been waiting on me. I'll try to be a little faster with the chapters from now on, but no promises. The chapters have been a little short, but they will probably get longer over time. Thank you for reading!**


	3. Happiness and Despair

**Okie Dokie, chapter 3. The last chapter kinda just ended. I just really wanted a new chappie up, so here's the tour. This chapter is going to be relatively short, just to let you all know, but this one will actually have a real ended opposed to the last.**

"That's my dad's office." Kendra pointed over to the lonely door across the hall near the staircase. "He coops himself up in there a lot. I don't even see him sometimes." Kendra sighed slightly at the thought and pressed on, her eyes drifting away from the door. "Always working on something or other. Guess that's what you get for being the CEO of your own company, right?"

The other grunted in agreement.

"On with the tour."

Kendra guided them through the rest of the ground floor including the kitchen, the main room, tv room, so on and so forth. Once covering every square inch of the floor, Kendra moved up the stair case. The others followed her like little ducklings till she stopped at the top. There wasn't much to see on this level, just several blank wooden doors and yet another flight of stairs just at the left of them.

"Uh, there isn't much for you guys to be interested in here. Just my dad's conference room." She nodded pointedly towards a single door on the opposite side of the hallway as them. "Not much else here other than that, a couple closets, and a bathroom. Whenever he can, my dad brings the company conferences here so he doesn't have to be gone for so long. But it doesn't happen all too often, so either he's in his office all day working, or he's at an out of state conference.

"Okay, I'm bumming myself out a bit here. Today is suppose to be a happy day." Kendra's solemn facial expression turned happy and energetic and proceded walking up the next set of stairs. This hallway, too, was lined with wooded, nondescript doors, except for one painted a soothing light blue, the floor covered in an off white colored carpet starting right at the foot of the top step.

"Not much to this floor, just the bed rooms." Kendra gestured to the nearest door to then stairs on their left, still smiling widely for no apparent reason. "That's my parents' room. Probably best you stay out of there. The blue door is my room obviously. My whole room is extremely blue for that matter, my dad thought it would be a good idea...never mind. I have my own bathroom which is all I really care about."

"Eh, that's just about it. The rest of these rooms are guest rooms really, but the door across mine is the hall bathroom. No more tour, I'm hungry. I really hope Mom makes pancakes and eggs. That's my absolute favorite."

Kendra chuckled a little at her statement and began skipping down the steps, the others happily followed her to the lower level.

* * *

"Ken, that's disgusting," Alisa complained as she watched Kendra eat her breakfast. It didn't seem so weird at first, just pancakes, cream cheese, and eggs, but then she started eating them together in a roll.

"No it's not. It's actually really yummy." Kendra took another bite of her strange breakfast concoction and swallowed. "You've just never tried it."

"And, somehow, I don't think I will."

"There's no stopping her," Mrs. Fraser commented, placing more egg on the table for the group. "Just like her father. They've always done that as far as I can remember. I always thought it was gross, though."

"It really isn't bad..." Kendra laughed awkwardly at herself and put down her breakfast, now feeling a little self-conscious.

"Ken, you don't have to stop eating your 'burrito' just because we think it's weird," Matt assured her, making her look up from her plate. "We all have something abnormal about ourselves."

"Brandon for example," Alisa started. Right at the statement, Brandon shot a menacing glance at her as if he knew what she was going to say. "He's middle name is Marion."

The sound of laughter futilely being held in surrounded the table and soon evolved into chuckling.

"I told you not to tell anyone, Lis," Brandon complained, admittedly laughing at himself. "Well, Matt has a weird thing with his name, too."

"Oh yeah, I remember that."

"I don't think I've heard of this. What is it?" Tyler's curiosity had gotten the best of him.

"Fine then, don't consult me on it or anything," Matt joked bluntly and carried on. "It's a really weird tradition that we have in our family where the oldest boy of the family is named after their grandfather and their oldest son will be named after their grandfather. So if you're the oldest, you're either a Matthew Simon or a Jacob Edward. I don't know why, that's just how my freaky family works."

"I think it's pretty cool."

All heads turned towards Kendra just who decided to take part in the conversation.

Matt could hardly believe her words. Everyone he knew thought it was weird, but not her. "Really?"

"Yeah, I think it's cool that you guys keep that going. Which Matthew Simon are you?"

"The 7th and it started with a Matthew Simon. So, it's been going on for a long time now." Matt couldn't understand her fascination with the topic, but didn't bother asking when her face lit up at his statement.

"Wow, that's really amazing, Matt." Kendra's smile held for a second more till another thought filled her head and the smile faded. "What if you don't have a son?"

Matt took a second to register the question and realized that it had never really come up before. He remembered his own father telling him the story of his family and their tradition and telling his how he, too, would carry it on one day, but never before had they talked about if he could not keep it up.

"I'm not at all sure. I guess it would kinda end at me which would suck...I could always give my daughter some weird girl form of Jacob Edward, but I can't really think of any at this moment. Also, I don't really think I would be so insane as to make my wife get pregnant till she has a boy. My grandpa did that. My dad has seven older sisters."

"Jeez." Kendra responded as she glared down at her abdomen and gingerly placed a hand over it. "I can't imagine having that many children."

Matt chuckled slightly at her small gesture, then, out of sure instinct, shined that amorous half smile at her. "My grandma has no regrets about it. I kinda like the big family feel, though. Lots of cousins and they all call me one of the babies of the family. I'm so much taller than all of them, though."

"That's not hard to imagine," Tyler cut in. "What are you, 6 foot now?"

"6 foot 1 and still growing." Matt extended his legs under the table over towards Kendra and brushed up against the sides of hers. Her eyes remained on his. "My dad told me he didn't stop growing till he was twenty. I don't really want to get much taller though, this is more than enough. I'm going to feel like a circus freak if I get much taller."

"You're not that tall, dude," Brandon reassured and looked up from his plate over to the other side of the table.

"Yeah, just a little freakishly tall," Tyler added again with a definite sarcastic edge to his tone. "Not all that bad, though. The ladies don't seem to mind all that much."

A sudden acute pain spread through Tyler's left shin causing him to whimper silently for a second. Once he came out of his short slump, Tyler shoot dagger eyes at the man, who was nonchalantly sipping his orange juice, across the table from him.

**Ring ring **(I'm not very imaginitive, so this is what I will be using for the sound of a phone ringing)

"Who could that be?" Mrs. Fraser asked herself as she put down her spatula, picked up the phone, and answered it. "Hello?...Of course, just a minute. I'll be right back, kids."

She gently placed the phone on the counter and headed out the door, quickly striding across the hallway.

Within a minute, she was back in the kitchen, put the phone back on the receiver, and carried on with her cooking with an exuberant smile.

"Who was that, Mom?" asked Kendra.

"I'm not sure, darlin'. Wanted to talk to your father real bad, he did. No matter. Your father is taking the rest of the day off right after he finishes-up some work in the office."

"GOD DAMN IT! ARE YOU INSANE?! ON TODAY OF ALL DAYS?! F( this letter will be excluded for the sake of those with virgin ears )CK NO!"

"Isn't he charming?" Mrs. Fraser again beamed at the group and again, paused what she was doing to happily leaving, once again. "I'm going to see what Mr. Fraser is up to."

"Well, I wasn't expecting that at all..." Kendra commented after a short pause from her father's explosion.

"Don't worry, my brother's worse," Brandon said as he spooned egg into his gaped mouth. "I don't know how his girlfriend stands him sometimes."

At that moment, the Frasers quietly entered the room, both looking as though they were at a funeral. Mrs. Fraser's happy demenor vanished in to thin air in the past minute, leaving behind an unatural frown in it's place, pulling on her face in all the wrong ways. Her husband, however, did look much different except maybe looking even angerier than usual. Seeing the evident distraught in her parents' faces, Kendra interveined, up in a flash from her chair.

"What happened?"

"Ken, sweetie," Mr. Fraser answered as he took his hand out of his pocket and gestured out the door. "Can we talk to you in the hallway for a little bit?"

Kendra silently complied and headed out the door. Mr. Fraser gingerly placed his free and on her back, leading her to the farthest part of the hallway from the kitchen.

For the next few seconds, there was no noise in the whole house, even the group in the kitchen didn't move a muscle as if the slightest motion would bring down the house.

"Ken, that was Mr. Beaumont that called."

"What did he say, Dad?"

"Darlin', please don't get upset," Mrs. Fraser soothed, reaching out for her daughter's arm.

"What did he say?"

"Ken, he told me that your mother and I need to be across the country by 4 o'clock today for an international conference and we wouldn't be back for several days."

Kendra's face went pale at the thought and pulled her arm away from her mother's grip.

"Sweetie," Fraser started again and held her in a hug and stroked her hair. "This is your special day, but we have to go. I'm so sorry, Kendra."

In a swift motion, Kendra glided her way out of her father's grasp and started at him with a blank, unfathomable face, slowly backing away from his out-stretched hand.

"Ken, please," her mother pleaded, taking a few steps towards her daughter. "This wasn't our idea. We want nothin' more than to be with you today, we do. Please, baby girl."

"Why did it have to be today? On my birthday?"

Kendra quickly turned on her heel and ran up the stairs without another word and closed herself up in her room, asking herself why her life was so horrible, flinging herself onto her bed.

**Okay, this chapter had a somewhat sad ending, but it was short which I like a lot. Other chapters might be this length for now on. Anyway, this was the end of this new chapter and it took a long time, I know, but I've had a pretty busy life, so they might be coming out slowly now a days. Ah man, saw _Sweeney Todd _for the third time in a day lol. Love that Johnny Depp lol.**


	4. Denial to Realization

**The last chapter ended on a bummer note, but it'll get happier, trust me, I did make all of this up. Anyway, back to the story.**

"Ken, open up," Alisa demanded, hammering on Kendra's door wildly and getting madder with every passing second.

"Alisa." Tyler cautiously placed his hands on both shoulders and pulled her away from the door, her fists still reaching to bang on the door. "Destroying the door isn't going to help anything."

"Yeah, either give it a rest or go in there and help her out," Matt added with Brandon close to his side. Alisa sighed in defeat and longingly stared at the door, wishing that Kendra would just make this easier on all of them.

"I'll go in there. Whether she likes it or not, I'm going to talk with her." Sucking in a huge amount of air for mental reassurance and slinked through the door, leaving the boys in the hallway.

"I don't like this..."

"Matt, you shouldn't worry." Brandon reached out to Matt and sturdily patted him on his stiff shoulder.

"Yeah, Alisa will get through to her."

And so the boys waited, but within a minute's time, Alisa's figure came through the door, sullen and quiet. Definitely not her normal behavior.

"Jee, what the hell is wrong with you?" asked Tyler, completely blunt with his question.

"Um...she's being very stubborn, keeps saying there's nothing wrong..."

"Well, what did you expect?" Matt joked as he pantomimed his explanation. "She has probably never been so devastated in her life and you just burst into her room with no warning to try to get her to cheer up. 'Oh sure, Lis, forget that I feel totally suicidal and all, and let me spill out my guts to you.' Oh yes, very realistic."

"Well, Mr. Know-it-all, if you think you can do a better job, why don't you go in there and talk to her yourself?" Feeling triumphant, Alisa placed both hands on her hips and put all her weight on one leg.

"Me?" Matt almost fell over in shock. "Why me?"

Brandon decided to add onto the conversation. "Why not?"

"He's got a point, dude." Tyler strode over to Matt and patted him on the shoulder in encouragement. "You are the one that was _really_ close to her, if you know what I mean."

"I'm not so sure I know what you mean..." Brandon commented in embarrassment. Sighing noteably in annoyance, Tyler walked over to his friend and whispered in his ear his explanation. "Oh...I get it."

"Guys, that's no man's land over there. I don't know if I..."

"Matt," Alisa cooed to him, giving him the quivering lower lip. "Do it for her."

"...Fine, I'll do it," he said resentfully, yet eagerly crept into the room.

"Whenever it comes to her..." Alisa whispered to herself so that the others could not hear. Unbeknown her her, however, the other two were thinking the very same thing. Throughout the years, very few things had changed and Matt's feelings for Ken was one of them. The three knew he still loved her, loved her more than anything, but Kendra had sworn off on him many years before. All of then knew she was not bound to change her mind any time soon, they had always hoped though.

The question that really stuck in their mind, though, was something else. Did Matt realize that he really did still love her or was he totally oblivious to his own actions? But this question became irrelevant to the current situation and just let it pass by, hoping that Matt could get through to their friend.

"Ken..." Matt cautiously poked his head into the room, searching for any sign of her.

"Oh, Matt." Kendra's voice was terribly scratchy and horse as she got up from her newly ripped-apart bed in a dire attempt to seem as if she hadn't been bawling for the past twenty minutes. "What's going on?"

"Kendra, don't kid with me, you're eyes are all red and puffy." Matt walked over and looked down to her in concern.

"Are not," she protested as she sniffled her nose and rubbed her right eye, trying to conceal the truth in them.

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

A single tear came to her eye and her lower lip began to quiver. "Are...not."

Matt took one hand and gingerly placed it on her cheek, carefully wiping away the tear. His mouth jerked into a slight smile.

"Please don't cry, Ken..."

In a second, Matt had pulled her head to his chest, stroking her hair with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.

"But it's alright if you do," Matt cooed to her and leaned his chin on the top of her head, giving her no room to possibly squirm out of his grasp. "Ken, I understand what you're going through, probably a lot more than you think I do, but this is your day and it's horrible that you can't be with your parents. If I were you, I would be completely in ruins if my family was not around for my eighteenth birthday. But, we're here, doesn't that matter?"

"...More than anything," she whispered into his chest, wrapping her own arm around his waist and burying her face into his chest, taking in his scent.

"I'm glad to here that."

"And don't think it's not true," she mumbled into his chest. "You guys are my life."

"So dramatic," Matt chuckled and pulled her away from himself, giving her a warm smile and walked her over to the bed. "Everything will be alright. I've been thinking that, maybe, we should stay with you tonight as well. I don't feel comfortable leaving you in such a big house all by yourself."

"Matthew..." she whispered, not sure how to respond to his generous offer.

Hearing her solemn comment, Matt gave her one of his usual slanted smiles and placed a kind hand on her shoulder. She looked up at this face as if she had never really looked at him before. Just a strange realization, it had just never registered to her before.

_Jee his skin is dark, _she thought to herself. _How is it I never really noticed before?_

Out of pure inpulse, Kendra grabbed his face, mulling it over in her hands, examining every little aspect of it.

"Any particular reason why you're gawking at my face?" Matt asked with a subtle hint of sarcasm, but still smiled for her.

"You're so tan," she replied, letting go of his face and instantly grabbed for his hands, turning them over and comparing them to his face.

"No, really?" Matt joked with her, giving a huge, white smile that stood out from the rest of his face. "You just notice?"

Instead of answering, Kendra went on staring at his dark skin, amazed that she had never noticed it till just this moment.

"Ken, you're parents are really worried about you. I suggest you get down there so they know you're alright before they leave. You don't want them to be upset while their gone, do you?"

Kendra hesitated and looked down from his face, not wanting him to see her feel guilty, then finally answered, "Of course not."

"Well then," Matt started as he got up from the bed, towering over her. "How about we go down stairs, all of us."

She looked up at him to see and hand extended out to her and a warm smile on his face.

"Come on." Matt flashed a terribly wonderful crooked smile down at her and, unconsciously, Kendra reached out and took his hand in hers.

Enveloping his hand around hers, Matt gently lifted her up and walked her out, comforting her the whole way.

**Okay, the end of another chapter. WOOT! These chapters have been pretty short and I sorta like it like that. They might be getting longer though, it really all depends on me. The chapters will probably be coming really slow, life has just been crazy lately. Doesn't help that my bo keeps distracting me either lol. Well, thank you so much for reading my story and I hope you keep on and be patient with me lol. Please review if you would like, I appreciate any comments y'all make**


	5. Author's Note

Hello readers! (Or at least those of you who actually like my stories and care)

Some of you may have realized that I have no posted a new chapter in quite some time. For those of you who do like my writings, I'm sorry. I've had a busy year and I have just completed my first quarter of college and have a whole THREE WEEKS OF WINTER BREAK! It is quite possible that I will actually get something done! WOOT! So once again, sorry for such the long break and I will try to post new chapters up ASAP

Yours truly,

Lexgo


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